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Writer's picturebob waun

Placemakers Making the News…

Meet Bob Waun | Placemaker

September 23, 2024 Leave a reply

We had the good fortune of connecting with Bob Waun and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Bob, every day, we about how much execution matters, but we think ideas matter as well. How did you come up with the idea for your business?There is an amazing listening room in Lake Orion, Michigan, 20 Front Street that we frequently enjoy. Their business has changed the downtown in a positive life giving manner. Nearly every artists who plays there says “There needs to be more rooms like this in the world”. That inspired our mission, to simply make more great creative rooms for creative people to make magic in.


Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?I’m a repenting banker. I acknowledged the fact early in my lending career that 1. I had no artistic talent, 2. without money, the wheels of commerce or the sustainability of beautiful art doesn’t happen without money/cashflow/bankers. Artists today are not rewarded for their work in too many case. The idea that ‘starving artists’ is somehow accepted in our society is wrongheaded. The new corporate music industry rewards a very small few talented artists, and leaves the rest in a long tail of subsistence… nowhere is this more evident than in amazing art of Appalachian.

The Medici Family, were key to the art world rebirth after the Dark Ages, and without patronage, many of the beautiful works we love would not exist. Some people, like me, simply do not have the gift of being artist… and so we have an obligation to find what role we can play in the creation of beauty in this life.


If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?I had 21 best buddies to Irvine, Kentucky in July for a guys weekend. We hiked up a mountain, into a cave, went to KY Mountain Moonshine distillery, shot guns, rode ATVs, threw axes, sat on the porch and talked about big ideas like AI, crypto, human kindness. Kayaked on the Kentucky River. Then we toured the Steam Engine Heritage garage where they are restoring trains, and went to Holla Holler www.HollaHoller.com for 3 amazing, intimate live music shows. Surrounded by the Daniel Boone National Forest, Kentucky is a magical land which roots you back to our natural being.


The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?The team at 20 Front Street https://www.20frontstreet.com — We are spring boarding their concept and adding to it a residential component, an apartment space, where creative people can “stay & play”. Sometimes inspiration takes more than a few hours in a live show. We are also trying to add to the idea of ‘live audience’ and incorporate technology…. the ‘time space continuum’ is real, because using new technology, we can actually ‘be in 2 places (or more) at one time’. Without innovators like 20 Front Street, I would have never realized that such magical music rooms – listening rooms – existed. Most concert venues are trying to sell you food, drink and stuff. The focus is not on the music, the sound, the vibration. Churches are beautiful listening rooms, but they are selling religious ideas, and the hymns and music are an add on to the message. We wanted to create spaces where 100% of the focus was on the music, the sound, the vibration, the message of the words of the storyteller… the meaning behind the music (shoutout to VH1 MTV).

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